Delhi to host six-day Chinese Film Festival

As the most favoured venue for several international film festivals, the national capital New Delhi is once again set to host a six-day long Chinese Film Festival commencing from March 28 (Friday) to April 02, 2008 at Sirifort Auditorium II.

Jointly organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Government of India and Film Bureau, China State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the Festival would feature eight movies from China.

Chinese Ambassador to India Mr. Zhang Yan will inaugurate the festival with the presence of Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, Ms. Asha Swarup and Mr. Tong Gang, Director General, China State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). Also a panel member of Chinese film fraternity is expected to grace the event.

The festival starts with the screening of the film ‘Gun of Mercy’ an action drama produced and directed by Xiao Feng and Liu Peiqi in the lead act.

Entry to venue

General entry is free for public on passes but on ‘first come first served’ basis. However, audience can watch the inauguration event and opening film only with special invitation.

Chinese Film Industry

The recent rise in Chinese film industry has attracted global businessmen, which can be best figured out with the popular Chinese artists, producer, and directors’ association with Hollywood. Chinese film festival is just another attempt to popularize its deep-rooted culture in terms of martial arts through films among global audience.

Since the first inception of motion pictures in 1896, the Chinese movie industry was not in the frame until the first film ‘Conquering Jun Mountain’ released in 1905. However, it took almost two decades in producing the first commercial film with the release of ‘The Difficult Couple’ (1913).

In the initial period and even till mid twentieth century due to lack of movie making technology and creativity, Chinese film makers had to rely more on American filmmakers and technicians. However, concepts like Chinese martial arts, its rich history made Chinese films popular in foreign countries, which further enhanced theatrical distribution and targeting global market.

Further Chinese economic development in the second half of the twentieth century made it conducive enough to produce more and more films and establishing many film theatres. At present, China has over 100 film studios and production companies. During 2007 there were made record of producing 402 feature films of varied genre including science, fiction, educational, documentary and films of animation.

As per latest report suggests by the end of 2007, China had 1,427 theatres in urban areas of the country, operating total of 3,527 screens, among which 493 were set up in 2007 alone. In addition television also emerged as largest network of movie deliver with an estimation of over 700 million TV viewers across the country. This further encouraged moviemakers to produce quality films targeting not only domestic but also foreign markets.